Cigar piercing machine



March 30, 1937; H. PRAGER CIGAR PIERCING MACHINE Filed Oct. 16, 1955 Harman .Fra e1" fiim M% n Patented Mar. 30, 1937 UNITED STATES eArENT OFFICE 7 Claims.

This invention relates to the manufacture of cigars and particularly to that step in the process of manufacture which pertains to piercing a draft passage in the end of the cigar.

' The present invention has for its object to provide means incorporating the principle of inserting a needle into the end of the cigar, heated for the purpose of dehydrating the tobacco immediately surrounding the hole formed by the U needle, shrinking it and destroying its elasticity so that it becomes set in position and does not return to fill the hole as the needle is withdrawn, thus making the hole permanent.

Other objects of the invention will appear as the following description of a preferred and practical embodiment thereof proceeds.

In the drawing which accompanies and forms a part of the following specification and throughout the several figures of which the same characters of reference have been employed to designate identical parts:

Figure 1 is a longitudinal vertical section through an illustrative form of apparatus;

Figure 2 is a cross section taken along the line 25 2- 2 of Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a cross section taken along the line 33 of Figure l; and

Figure 4 is a section taken along the line 4 l of Figure 1.

Referring now in detail to the several figures the numeral I represents a shaft supported by spaced end pieces 2 and 3 mounted on a base 4. One of the end pieces 2 is adjustable by means of a bolt 5 and slot 6 longitudinally with respect 5 to the shaft. The shaft is driven by any suitable source of power through the driving gear I and intermeshing driven gear 3 and it will be observed that the ratio between these gears is such that the shaft I is rotated at a comparatively slow 40 speed.

On an intermediate part of the shaft l a drum or carriage 9 is fixed, said drum having a plural ity of longitudinal cigar-receiving grooves H], see Figure 2, and being surrounded by a casing ll 45 whereby the cigars are retained in the grooves.

A chute I2 leads from any suitable hopper or source of supply to the drum 9 so that cigars arranged side by side and travelling down said chute are received one by one by the grooves It] as the drum rotates in the direction of the arrow in Figure 2 and carried around said drum to the point of discharge [3 at which point a discharge chute I4 is provided.

The piercing of the cigars takes place while 55 they are revolving in the drum 9. On the right hand side of the drum 9 and fixed with respect to said shaft is a plate I5 provided with recesses it having the shape of the ends of the cigars and registering with the ends of the grooves l0. Said plate is provided co-axially with said recesses with cylindrical bores H by way of which the perforating needles have access to the cigars. To the left of the drum 9 is the means for pushing the cigars so that their ends enter the recesses l6. Said pushing means comprise a plunger guide 10 plate I8 fixed to the shaft I having adjacent its periphery cylindrically bored guides l9 equal in number to the grooves It and co-axial therewith and carrying plungers 20. The plungers are preferably hollow so as to contain a spring 2! which 15 yieldingly biases the plunger extensions 22 toward the cigar. The extensions 22 are provided at their ends with fiat heads 23 which make contact with the cigar. The plungers are preferably provided with suitable heads 24, which engage a circumferential cam surface 25 preferably carried on the inner face of the end piece 2 and which cam face includes an inclined portion 26.

It will be understood that the specific construction of the plungers constitutes only the second- 25 ary phase of the invention and that any plunger arranged between the cam face 25 and the cigar fulfills its part in the broad concept of the invention.

The plungers, as a whole, are normally urged away from the cigars by the springs 21. As the cigars enter the drum 9 they are successively pushed toward the right, their ends being thus moved into the recesses It, the pushing being accomplished while the plungers are riding upon 3 the inclined portion 26 of the cam and which takes place while the cigar is traversing that portion of its course included within the bracket 28 shown in Figure 2. When the plungers reach that portion of the cam face which is in a plane normal to" the axis of the drum, the cigars are yieldingly held with their ends in the recess 16 during that part of the revolution of the drum in dicated between the ends of the bracket 29 in Figure 2. The plungers slide down the inclined surface 26 of the cam during that portion of the cycle of the drum 9 indicated within the bracket 3!] of Figure 2, the springs 21 effecting the successive withdrawal of the plungers as they reach this point and leaving the cigars free to be discharged.

The gear 8 which is on the right hand side of the apparatus forms a supporting means for guide bushings 3| through which slide the plungers 32, said plungers each carrying a needle 33. The Y plungers and needles are coaxial with the cigars and in alignment with the grooves Ill in the drum 9. Since the plate l8 which carries the plungers 20 and the gear 8 which carries the plungers 32 are fixed to the shaft l which carries the drum 9,

there is no relative displacement between the plungers and the grooves l0 during the entire revolution of said drum. The needles 33 are projectable through the bores [1.

The plungers 32 may be provided with suitable heads 34 which engage a circumferential cam face 35 preferably formed on the inner side of the end piece 3. Said cam face has an inclined portion 36 and an elevated portion 31 which lies in a plane normal to the axis of the shaft I. When the plunger heads 34 are at the bottom of the inclined portion 36 the needles are withdrawn. As the plunger heads 34 ride. upon the inclined portion 36 to the elevated portion 3! the needles penetrate the cigars and as the plunger heads 34 ride 0 along the portion 31 of the cam, the needles are held in the cigar. When the plunger heads again slide down the cam face, the needles are withdrawn from the cigar under the urge of the springs 38.

In order that the holes pierced in the cigars shall be permanent, that is to say, in order to prevent them closing upon the withdrawal of the needle, through the native resiliency of the tobacco, it is necessary to heat the needles so as to dry out the tobacco which they immediately contact, thereby to destroy its elasticity so that it will assume a set position determined by the displacement caused by the needle. The heating is accomplished by a heating drum 4! fixed to the shaft at a point intermediate the plungers 32 and the plate 15 which receives the ends of the cigars. The heating drum 4| comprises in the illustrative embodiment of the invention a central hub 42 having a plurality of heavy disk-like heat reservoirs 43, said disk reservoirs being bored to provide passageways for the needles 33 which needles come in contact with the heat reservoirs throughout the major portion of their length. For convenience in manufacturing and assembling, the

45 heat reservoirs are of plural number, in the present instance three, and between them in suitable grooves are sandwiched the heating elements 44 and 45. For insulating purposes, the heating elements are preferably wrapped in mica or other dielectric sheet substance 46. The heat reservoirs are surrounded by a sheath or cover 41 of insulating material. Slip rings 48 and 49 are carried peripherally by the drum 4| on the outside of the sheath 4! said slip rings being contacted by brushes 50 and 5| which place the heating elements in an electrical circuit represented by the wires 52 and 53. The heating elements are substantially serially connected as at 54.

If the needles 33 merely penetrated the cigars rectilinearly without any twisting or turning mo tion they would not make a satisfactory hole in the end of the cigar for the tobacco would be merely pressed aside and would return to fill the hole immediately upon the withdrawal of the needle. Neither would it do for the needles to be continuously rotated for this would wrap up the tobacco tightly against the needles and when they were withdrawn some of the tobacco would be pulled out into the holes or out of the cigar. This condition is met by the provision of means for oscillating the needles whereby a satisfactory compacting of the tobacco in the walls is secured and at the same time the wrapping of the tobacco fibers relative to the needle is avoided. The

oscillating means comprises a crank 55 fixed to a sleeve 56 freely mounted upon the shaft I and which sleeve carries a sun gear 51 in mesh with a plurality of planet gears 58, Figure 3, fixed to the bushings 3|. The crank is oscillated by a pitman 59 suitably operated from the extraneous source of power and as the crank oscillates through the gear 51 it oscillates the bushings 3|, the latter having extensions 63 having slots 6|, the plungers being coupled to said extensions by pins 39 which pass through said plungers and play in said slots. Thus oscillatory movement of the bushings 3! is communicated through the pins to the plungers 32, while at the same time the slots permit unimpeded reciprocatory movement of the plungers and needles. The springs 38 are retained between flanges at the ends of the extensions 60 and extensions 62 of the pins 39.

The ratio between the sun and planet gears and the amplitude of oscillation of the crank 55 is so determined that the needles will perform an oscillatory movement of about 45 degrees, although the exact amplitude of their oscillation is not important to the invention.

In operation, the cigars are supplied from a hopper, not shown, into the rotating drum 9 and while they are being carried through the rotary cycle of said drum they are successively clamped by the plungers 20, and the hot needles slowly inserted in one end of the cigars to a depth of from three-fourths of an inch to one inch and held in the cigar during an interval of approximately two seconds when they are permitted to be suddenly withdrawn allowing the cigar to be discharged. The adjusting mechanism represented by the bolt 5 and slot 6 permits the apparatus to be adjusted for various lengths of cigars. The effect of slowly inserting the heated needle produces a hole in the cigar. the inside surface of which is firmly formed in the tobacco and remains open and full sized when the needle is withdrawn, thus forming unrestricted smoke passage in the cigar. As has been suggested in the structural description, the twisting motion of the needle is essential to obtain this desired hole. A strictly rotating motion is not sufficient inasmuch as it tends to wrap up the fibers of the tobacco. The lack of any twisting is undesirable inasmuch as it does not properly pack the tobacco around the sides of the hole so as to form a permanent opening.

Since the process of making the hole requires that the needle be left inserted in the cigar for an interval of from one to two seconds, the method requires the use of a comparatively slow moving apparatus in which the cigars enter and from which they are discharged in a more or less continuous flow.

It will be understood to those skilled in the art that the details of construction as illustrated and described are merely by way of example and not to be comtrued as limiting the scope of my invention as defined in the appended claims.

What I claim is:

l. A cigar piercing machine comprising a rotatable unit including a magazine having a plurality of individual open sided cigar chambers arranged about its periphery adapted to receive cigars from a suitable hopper, means forming an end wall for said chambers having centering recesses registering with said chambers, a battery of plungers on one side of said magazine, the plungers being co-axial with said cigar chambers, a battery of piercing means on the opposite side of said magazine adapted to enter said cigar chambers through said end wall, said piercing means being substantially co-a'xial with said recesses, said plungers and piercing means being normally spring-biased away from said magazine, and relatively fixed cams at opposite sides of said unit engaged respectively by the plungers and the piercing means for operating said plungers and piercing means, thereby on the one hand successively pushing the cigars laterally into the centering recesses and on the other hand successively piercing the centered ends of the cigars.

2. A cigar piercing machine as claimed in claim 1, including means for oscillating the piercing means simultaneous with their piercing movement,

3. A cigar piercing machine as claimed in claim 1, including means for oscillating the piercing means simultaneous with their piercing movement, said oscillating means including a planet gear on each piercing means, a sun gear supported axially by said unit and meshing with said planet gears, a crank co-axial with said unit and operatively connected to said sun gear, and means for operating said crank.

4. A cigar piercing machine as claimed in claim 1, said unit including a heating means for said piercing means.

5. A cigar piercing machine comprising a shaft, supports adjacent the ends of said shaft, said supports being provided on the inner sides with cam faces, and on said shaft between said supports, a unit including a magazine having a plurality of individual open sided cigar chambers arranged about its periphery adapted to receive cigars from a suitable hopper, a centering plate adjacent one end of said magazine having centering recesses registering with the adjacent ends of said cigar chambers, batteries of plungers, one adjacent each support and normally springpressed against the cam surface of said support, said plungers on the side opposite said centering plate registering with said cigar chambers, said plungers on the side adjacent said centering plate including piercing means adapted to enter perforations in said centering plate 00-- axial with the recesses in said plate, whereby in the rotation of said unit the first mentioned plungers successively push the cigars into said recesses while the said piercing means simultaneously successively penetrate the centered ends of said cigars.

6. A cigar piercing machine as claimed in claim 5, including an operating wheel for said unit, planet gears rotatably mounted in said wheel, the plungers associated with said piercing means passing slidably, but non-rotatably through said planet gears, a sun gear for simultaneously rocking said planet gears and with them said plungers, a crank for actuating said sun gear, and means for operating said crank.

7. A cigar piercing machine as claimed in claim 5, including an electric heater adjacent said centering plate through which said piercing means pass and by which they are heated.

HERMAN PRAGER. 

